Etymology

From Middle High German storch, storc, from Old High German storah, *storc(h), from Proto-Germanic *sturkaz. Cognate to dialectal Dutch stork, English stork, Swedish stork. The expected German form is also Stork, which was indeed in wide use, but has not become standardized. The shifted variant Storch, from Old High German storah, is due to the common use of epenthetic vowels in the latter language. Similar variants existed in other words with -rk, but they have otherwise been eliminated. (Compare Old High German starah alongside starc(h), whence Middle High German starc and modern stark.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtɔʁç/, [ʃtɔʁç], [ʃtɔɐ̯ç]